British researchers say that heroin addicts given supervised
doses of heroin twice daily are more likely to stay free from street heroin use
than those taking methadone as addiction treatment.

The researchers enlisted 127 addicts for the study. The
subjects had been addicted to heroin for an average of 17 years, and had been
involved in methadone treatment programs for an average of 10 years. Despite involvement
in methadone treatment, these users continued to abuse street heroin.

Experts say that as many as 10% of those treated with methadone
continue to use heroin regularly.

For 6 months, half of the study subjects continued to use methadone
and the other half received twice daily supervised injections of medical grade
heroin.

The results:

Those
using supervised heroin treatment were significantly more likely to reduce
their use of street heroin than those continuing to take methadone.

Lead researcher, Professor John Strang, from the National
Addiction Centre at King's College London says that the findings prove that
even those heroin addicts that don’t respond to methadone treatment are reachable
through heroin therapy, saying, "This is a treatment for a severe group of
heroin addicts that ordinary treatments have failed…The very good news is that
you can get these people on a constructive trajectory."

Strang says that policy makers should take note and implement
programs, like heroin treatment, that work, saying, "Our work offers
government robust evidence to support the expansion of this treatment, so that
more patients can benefit. Supervised injectable heroin should now be provided,
with close monitoring, for carefully selected chronic heroin addicts."

Although the scientists involved say that heroin treatment
works, the stigma and politics of heroin treatment often block movement towards
implementation. Dr. Thomas Kerr of the Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
commented, saying, "History tells us that availability of heroin
prescription can be dictated more by special interests and politics than
evidence.”

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